Laberinto
by MiseRIP
Summary: Jareth knows he's a sore loser, so why deny it? He's out for revenge and a rematch, and who better to put his plan into motion, than to trick the very baby he had stolen four years ago?
1. Chapter 1

Laberinto

An impossibly large white owl glides over a large park in the middle of a faraway city. The park is framed by large, looming trees, dark green and monstrous and in the middle is a long stone bridge which arches over a pretty little river, leading to the other side which heads back to common society. The park is strangely familiar, and so is the scene which is happening inside it.

A nineteen year old girl, clothed in a mossy green tunic, moves forward in a determined stride towards an unseen figure, speaking with a hard tone, "Do not be swayed by my pleasure at the sight of you, my lord. For though my father, the Duke, has promised you my hand, I cannot consent to be yours until the evil that stalks our land from highest hill to deepest dale is ..."

Suddenly the girl pauses and looking down she frowns, the creases in her forehead evident, "Hm."

"….Um…"

"Was it…? No. Erm."

Sighing in frustration the girl pulls out a rolled up, dog-eared, booklet out of the belt of her tunic and flips to a page towards the back. When she finally finds her page she sighs again and smacks herself in the forehead with the book, "How could you forget that, stupid, stupid!"

She 'ahems' and gets back into character, rolling up her booklet and replacing it in her belt. She's about to finish her line when suddenly she hears the persistent and panicked yells of her six year old half-brother, Toby.

"Sarah! Sarah!" he cried as he came running out of no where in all his childish glory and barrelled into the girl who revealed herself to be the very Sarah who had performed in this very park only four years ago.

Blonde hair and brown hair clashed as they both went tumbling to the ground and Sarah got the brunt of the fall.

"Toby…get…off," she gasped out in mild annoyance when she found that her airways were sufficiently cut off due to Toby's elbow sticking into her neck. He apologised profusely in a small voice and clambered to his feet unsteadily.

Sarah got up behind him and dusted off her newly constructed costume, sighing audibly when she noticed the grass stains that were darker than the pale green of her tunic. She doubted she'd be able to get it off simply by washing it the normal way; it meant she'd have to make an effort. Ugh.

She noticed that her brother, dressed in a similar outfit to her that she had made for him for this particular outing (he was to play the annoying half brother who screamed a lot. Strangely apt, she thought.), was still panicked and kept looking around as if he expected the boogie-man to jump out at him at any given moment.

"Hey…" she tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped, "What's wrong, kid?"

He turned and immediately, with his eyes wide began his exaggerated story about how he was wandering around in the bushes, waiting for his part in the play (he was to play the very brave brother who was not annoying and was very brave, he told himself.), and a great white beast flew over his head and nearly killed him.

Sarah stared at him dryly, "And just how big was this fearsome beast?"

"MILES AND MILES AND MILES WIDE!" and to reinforce his completely _likely_ statement, he stretched his arms as wide as they could go, which wasn't very far at all and proclaimed, "_This _big!"

She couldn't help but laugh at the recounting of his tale. It was really adorable and he obviously took after her in the overworking imagination department.

"You believe me?" He asked insecurely, fumbling with his hands and looking down, seeing both the doubtful look in his sister's eyes and hearing the great big laugh that had barked out of her mouth. Maybe she'd been a Labrador in a past life?

In his very short attention span, Toby suddenly felt the need to know if she had formally been a dog. He was cut short when his taller sister bent down and picked him up, then twirled him lovingly.

"Of course I believe you!" she proclaimed bravely, and he laughed as she twirled him again, "And I'll beat the monster down, and he'll have no idea what hit him!"

"Yeah!" he agreed happily, his worries suddenly lost.

Sarah smiled affectionately at Toby and set him back on the ground, taking his hand within her own. It was nearing the time when they were expected at home, she could see by the sun slowly setting and painting the sky an array of colours over the tall, dark trees. They made their way over the bridge and towards their home which was right through the bushes if they cut through them in their own little shortcut.

When they arrived at the old big white house, Karen was standing outside the door, dressed in a lovely deep green dress, her purse clasped in her hands. She looked them over thoughtfully, her eyes pausing over the dirty state of their clothing. She shrugged it off though, and told herself that it wasn't the end of the world and that they could be cleaned. It was a hard thing for the clean queen to accept. But these days she tried to make a conscious effort to meet her step-daughter halfway.

"Are we late?" asked Sarah, looking appropriately apologetic in case it turned out to be so.

"No, actually. You're just in time," Karen smiled and knelt down, opening her arms to Toby who went running into them, telling the exciting tale of the great white bird-beast which had attacked him that day.

Sarah's step mother sighed at the fantastical story and looked up at her, as if she silently blamed her for the stories which had found their way into Toby's head. Sarah raised her eyebrows and shrugged as if to say it wasn't her doing.

Karen opened the door to the brightly lit house and began going through the numbers to ring while she and her husband were out, the number to call pizza, the money on the bench for them to use and what time Toby needed to go to bed.

Sarah nodded throughout the list making mental notes and wished Karen and her father a good night at the front door. She closed it after them and began locking it. Toby suddenly slid into view and grinned mischievously at his older sister, she returned the grin and chased after him.

Two hours later the siblings sat on the couch in the living room, flicking through channels on the television, pizza boxes and ice cream containers were littered around them, forgotten. Sarah was through her 3rd round in the game of "Let's find something decent to watch!" and was losing miserably. She finally settled on some cartoon on the Disney channel and tossed the remote to Toby.

"I'm going to go have a shower, just watch this cartoon. I won't be long."

She needn't have said anything, because throughout her instruction of him to stay put, he'd tuned her out and was watching the cartoon as if it were the most amazing thing in the world. Sarah shrugged and headed upstairs to her room to grab her pyjamas.

Before heading into the bathroom across the hall, she leaned over the ledge looking over the living room and checked on Toby one last time. He was still seated in the same spot, eyes glued to the television. He didn't move a muscle and ignored her presence.

Sarah snorted, "Fanatic," and then walked into the bathroom, flicking on the lights and closing the door behind her.

Toby stared at the screen which had changed about five minutes ago, from the cartoon, to this new strange show. It was _so _much better than the cartoon. There were goblins, dwarves, fairies and even strange little worms that talked in a funny accent that made him giggle!

They all lived in this weird place called…Labyrinth, was it? It was something like that. And it was about a girl who lost her baby brother and had to find him again or else something bad would happen!

Toby pressed a button on the remote which got rid of the description of the television show and sat watching with his mouth slightly open in awe. He was so drawn into the screen that he didn't notice that the living room lights were flickering on and off and that a strange wind was blowing at his hair.

There was a crash, and he jumped, unable to tell if it was on the screen or in the house, and he looked around, seemingly shaken from a spell. The lights stopped flickering, but Toby felt an overwhelming sense of dread and he climbed out of the couch and moved towards the stairs.

"Halt!" a voice suddenly commanded from the screen, "Move no further!"


	2. Chapter 2

Toby immediately froze, but when the screen went silent he turned on the spot and looked at it. It was completely blank. Curiosity itched at the edge of his mind, and taking slow, tentative steps, he moved towards the television.

When he was standing a few centimetres from the screen, he pressed a closed fist to it and knocked on the glass. Nothing happened. He knocked again, but this time louder, louder than the thumping of his heart. Though he was scared, he was also curious as to what strange creature had to be hiding in his television, making it act funny.

"Hello?" he asked the screen.

He suddenly heard high pitched chattering and laughter inside the television, and he leaned his head in closer, until his ear touched the screen, so he could hear well. The chatter died down just as abruptly as it had begun and he frowned. The lights flickered ominously in the living room, but he took no notice, so enthralled by this strange

happening.

"Toby," spoke a strong, authorative voice which echoed around the room.

Toby jumped visibly and looked around trying to find the source of the voice, but it seemed to be everywhere at once. The lights completely went out. Toby started towards where he thought the stairs would and called out to Sarah. He received no reply.

"Toby," came the call again.

"Where are you?" the little boy asked, staring quizzically, his heart was thumping in his chest.

"Behind you, my dear boy."

Suddenly the lights flicked on as if they'd never been out and Toby spun dizzily on the spot until he faced the television screen…or what he could see of it. Leaning lazily against it was a tall, otherworldly looking man. He was of indescribable age, and had impish facial features, framed by wild, feathery blonde hair. His thin lips cracked into a mischievous grin and the boy saw fangs that glinted in the light of the room. He wore black, medieval garb and came with 70 more glitter!

Toby stared at the strange man with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging fully open. The man smirked and pushed himself off the television, where he made his way to the boy and bowed deep and mockingly. He turned his face up and stared down his nose at him through mismatched eyes, and held out his hand.

"I am The Goblin King, but you may call me Jareth."

Toby reached out hesitantly with one hand and shook Jareth's, "Uhh…I'm Toby…but I really shouldn't be talking to you…"

"Why ever not?" Jareth drew back to his full height and cocked his head to the side, arching a brow.

"Well…you're a strange glittery man from the t.v…"

"But I thought we could play a game while your sister was away," He took Toby by the elbow and lead him to the couch, "Don't you want to play a game, Toby?"

Immediately Toby's features brightened and he allowed himself to be taken to the couch, where he climbed up and sat with his legs crossed. Next to him, Jareth sat in his own dignified, kingly way, as if he were more worthy of this room than the pretty lamp next to him. The pretty lamp huffed at him indignantly.

"I've got a little riddle for you, boy," began Jareth and he glanced quickly at the stairs for a moment. When he could still hear the water from upstairs running, he seemed satisfied they weren't going to be having any uninvited guests. The Goblin King couldn't believe how much of a water waster Sarah was. Some things were just _unforgiveable._

"What's that?" asked Toby inquisitively, tilting his head in a frighteningly similar manner to the Goblin King.

"Why, it's like a puzzle!" Toby's eyes brightened and Jareth asked, "Oh, do you like puzzles then?"

"My sister does them all the time when she baby-sits me!" And the boy motioned to the hefty piles of old and tattered puzzle books and magazines by a bookcase next to the stairs.

Jareth stared at them dryly and wondered if Sarah was preparing for some kind of puzzle war. Well, somebody was definitely paranoid…even if it was justified in this instance. He looked at the maze puzzles shiftily, and quickly coughed and turned back to Toby.

"Well, this riddle is only for the most grown up boys…I don't know if you're old enough…" The Goblin King trailed off and smirked inwardly at the look of barely concealed irritation on Toby's face at having his maturity questioned.

"Tell me!" the boy all but begged, tugging on Jareth's coat sleeve insistently.

"But first!" Jareth said loudly, and Toby immediately quieted, "With all games there must be a winner and a loser, and where there are games, there are terms."

"Will you, Toby, should you lose, accompany me to my castle, beyond the Goblin City where you will stay forever?" He asked seriously.

"Forever's a long time…" said the boy, to which Jareth replied, "Oh, but it's not long at all."

"I think I should go and ask my big sister…"

"Ah, but this is a limited offer. You don't want to lose this opportunity to prove how grown up you are to your big sister, do you?"

Jareth knew that he had won; Toby idolized his big sister and hated being thought a child all at once. It would be a piece of cake, the boy had no chance whatsoever to comprehend the riddle he had planned and then he would be one step closer to his rematch and finally his revenge. He could admit it himself, he was a horrible loser.

"Are you listening carefully, Toby?" at the boy's enthusiastic nod, Jareth barreled into his riddle.

"Turn us on our backs

And open up our stomachs

You will be the wisest of men

Though at start a lummox.

What am I?"

Toby's eyes crossed in confusion and once more his mouth fell open so wide that a small family of goblins could move in and host a formidably sized party. The riddle was all too much for his six year old mind to comprehend. And what was a lummox?

He considered asking, but he thought it would be a bad idea to waste his answer. Maybe he should wait for Sarah? She'd been gone for a long time; she couldn't be that much longer, could she? She could help him!

"Toby," growled Jareth, sensing his hestitation and growing impatient, "You're running out of time."

"But-"

"Because you never specified a time line in which you'd answer my riddle, I had little choice but to decide it myself, and if I'm correct in saying," Jareth paused and reached into his coat pocket where he pulled out a large, gold pocket watch, reading its face, "You have exactly thirty seconds to answer."

Toby paled. He didn't think thirty seconds sounded very long at all and he really didn't understand any of that riddle. What did wise mean? And why at start a lummox?

What was a lummox?!

"Such a pity, dear Toby," Came the vicious, mocking voice of the Goblin King. He shook his head and tsked, "and here I thought you were all grown up. What ever will Sarah think?"

Toby's eyes welled with tears of fear and he opened his mouth to scream for his sister. He had barely gotten the start of Sarah's name out of his mouth before the lights went out once more and the television turned on. The screen was overflowing with images of goblins, bouncing up and down, howling with evil laughter and the box began rocking side to side from the force.

There was the sound of a door opening upstairs, the light from the bathroom flooding the darkened living room. Toby screamed before Jareth could cover his mouth and there was the sound of running footsteps an instant later.


	3. Chapter 3

The goblins wasted not another minute, and their long, gangly arms reached out of the screen and latched onto different parts of Toby's body. Before he could gain a decent grip on the couch, he cast a fearful glance at Jareth and then was ripped forcefully from the living room and was sucked into the television screen. The screen went blank, but not before it spat out a small, old looking red book onto the ground in front of it.

The golden title read "Labyrinth".

Jareth faded into one of the more darkened corners of the room seconds before Sarah had leapt six steps from the bottom onto the ground and ran into the lightless living-room.

"Toby!" She cried, looking around in a panic, "_Toby?!"_

She ran to the side of the room and flicked the light switch repeatedly, but the lights merely gave a pathetic wink and then died again. Sarah sank to her knees and began hyperventilating. Where could he have gone? There wasn't anywhere for him to hide, thanks to Karen, the whole house was so goddamned spartan due to her clean streak.

Suddenly something caught her eye on the couch. She got up gingerly and made her way over to the piece of furniture. From the light reflected from the bathroom upstairs, she was able to make out the faint glimmer of glitter covering one of the cushions. Her eyes widened and her heartbeat began thumping uncontrollably. She knew only of one who'd use such an excessive amount of glitter.

The lights flickered and Sarah saw something red out the corner of her eye in front of the television. She approached it fearfully, as if it would leap up suddenly and attack her.

"Oh no. Oh, no _way_," The lights came on permanently and she saw the object for what it was. An instrument of the devil, the object from her worst nightmares, the reminder of excessive glitter use.

The book from her childhood, the _exact _copy she had owned, "Labyrinth", lay anything but innocently on the ground, the gold of the lettering shining at her, mocking her with her memories and story it held inside the cover. It mocked her like…something…really mocking.

She bent down and picked it up carefully, making sure to hold it at arms length in case it pulled a Jumanji on her and sucked her into its very pages. She stood up, so engrossed in what the reappearance of the book and the disappearance of her brother could mean that she hadn't noticed the tall, otherworldly man standing behind her.

Sarah turned and ran right into him. She stumbled backwards and landed unceremoniously on her backside while the big creature of the male persuasion grunted in annoyance. The book lay open at the few beginning pages of the story next to the couch.

The young woman inspected her hands for any damage and saw that they were covered in glitter, "Oh man, that's _never _going to come off!" she groaned miserably, "I _hate _glitter."

"I happen to find it rather pleasing to the eye," Came the defensive reply from the Goblin King, "But if you'd prefer it so, I could bury you head to toe in it."

Sarah stared at the boots belonging to the Goblin King and refused to look up or acknowledge him. She suddenly closed her eyes in the most stupid effort to become invisible ever displayed. She could hear the tap tapping of Jareth's boot as he tapped it in annoyance.

"I _can _still see you, you know."

"No you can't!" replied Sarah.

"Oh, but I can."

"I refuse to believe that you even exist, let alone that you can see me, you glittery freak!"

Jareth growled in irritation and before Sarah could protest, he'd picked her up and hurled her onto the couch. She hit the cushions and sat there for a while, seemingly in a daze of some sort. Jareth took a seat next to her and stretched his arm out behind her, playing with a lock of her long hair. The young woman felt his hand and shifted further along the couch, casting him a suspicious look.

"Where's Toby?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Toby? Toby who?" he replied with a smirk, resting his chin on a fist.

Sarah huffed and crossed her arms, shifting so that she faced away from him. If he wouldn't answer her questions then she wouldn't give him the time of day, and he obviously wanted something from her…otherwise why kidnap her brother again?

Jareth, seeing he was getting no where fast, gestured with his hand. Suddenly the room was lit up with life, there were goblins on the stairs, around the couch, on top of the television and they were all dancing dizzyingly, laughing horrible laughs. Sarah's breath caught in her throat and she jumped from her seat, meaning to grab a solid object to protect herself with.

The Goblin King gripped her arm until she gritted her teeth and her face twisted into an expression of pain. He jerked her roughly back onto the couch and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close to him. Sarah shuddered and turned away.

"Sarah! _Sarah, help me!" _came the sudden cry of her brother, and before Jareth could pull her back, she'd ripped free of his embrace and was running across the living room towards a large group of goblins. In the centre was Toby, curled up and crying.

She viciously kicked three of the goblins out of the way, one after another, and the others soon scattered, their laughter cut short. She'd almost reached Toby, who looked behind her in horror. Before she could ask, two larger and much stronger goblins had taken each of her wrists in hand, and she was thrown into the arms of Jareth, who curled his lips back in an animalistic display of triumph. Sarah gulped at the fangs protruding from his mouth.

Jareth forcefully took hold of one of her hands, and his other hand rested on her waist. To the jeering cries of his subjects, the Goblin King began a merry waltz across the room. Sarah kicked up as much a fuss as possible. But every kick she aimed at him, he happily switched feet and led her in a different direction, every insult she cast at him he shook off as easy as he would a leaf that had fallen on his shoulder.

They'd passed Toby three times, and each time Jareth had kept her just out of reach of her brother so she couldn't help him. The last time she had almost touched Toby, a pair of goblins came out of no where and scooped him up before whirling away with him.

Sarah was growing tired. How many rounds around the room were they on now? Was this just apart of Jareth's plan? Exhaust her so much that she'll just pass out and he could take Toby for keeps? She looked up into his eyes for the first time, and found that his had never left her face. They stared at her, cold and calculating despite the impish grin he wore.

"What do you want, Jareth?" She asked defeatedly.

"I want a rematch," He stated in an upfront manner.

"But I won, fair and square. You can't make me run the Labyrinth again," she tilted her head in confusion, "In fact, I never called for you…so how are you even here in the first place?"

"Why, Toby lost a little game," at his simple explanation, realization dawned on Sarah and she paled visibly.

"But he's only _six years old_!"

"Well he seemed to think that he was grown up enough, so who was I to deny him? Such a fair and noble King as myself…" He grinned at her wickedly and she glared back.

"Okay, Goblin Glitter King," hearing the strange adjustment of his name, Jareth tilted his head for her to continue, "I've got a deal for you. Give Toby back and leave now. That's the deal."

The Goblin King threw his head back and laughed. Sarah stared at him with wide eyes, wondering if he'd lost it even more than she'd ever imagined. She used this opportunity to untangle herself, she was getting rather dizzy from all the dancing round and round the room again. He stopped laughing abruptly and pulled her back into him, where he began their dance again. She nearly cried.

"But my feet _hurt," _she whined pathetically, dragging her feet in emphasis.

Jareth's only reply was to speed up the dance two notches, the goblin scattering every which-way to avoid a collision with the swift dancers. The room was becoming dizzying and Sarah couldn't keep track of all the Tobys they'd passed. Her head was swimming, and to keep her head on straight, she focused on Jareth's mismatched eyes. They were swirling in the most curious way…

For some reason her new focal point didn't seem to be helping her much. In fact, she felt even dizzier than before, and her movements were becoming sluggish despite her effort to keep up with the King's expert dancing. His strange eyes were swimming in and out of view and she had the vague feeling that she must've looked like a sloth at that moment.

Her eyelids drooped closed, and even though she could hear the panicked screams of her brother, she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. She sighed softly and her legs gave out from underneath her.


	4. Chapter 4

Jareth's firm grip on the young woman stopped her from collapsing to the ground and he lifted her up and over his shoulder with little trouble. Toby had been released from the hold of the goblins and was trying to kick him all the while screaming at the King, demanding to know what he had done to his sister.

"I'm getting my rematch," He answered coldly, and suddenly they weren't in the living room anymore.

Sarah was the vision of fashion at its best, decked out in her purple fairy pajamas, lying limply over the upturned roots of an old tree. She was woken by the feeling of bark sticking into her back and she groaned, rolling over.

She promptly fell to the gravely ground with a pained grunt and rolled onto her back. She slapped a hand over her eyes to shield her from the light coming through her eyelids.

"When I open my eyes, I'm going to be at home," She said firmly to herself, "There will be no goblins, there will be no Jareth and Toby will be tucked safely in bed. Oh, and I'll have a fantastic acting career with millions and millions of dollars."

"Sounds reasonable enough to me," Came an amused, and definitely masculine, voice from above.

"Okay, that settles it. I'm going back to sleep."

Sarah promptly shifted to her side and curled up into a ball, hoping to protect herself from unwanted sights…such as a very haughty Goblin King who was currently standing over her, wanting to be the first she saw when she woke up. There was nothing like traumatizing young women in the morning.

When Jareth saw that Sarah wasn't going to be getting up any time soon, his shoulders fell in disappointment and his trademark smirk vanished. Well, this wouldn't do at all. He nudged her in the side with his boot and she grunted in reply, but made no move to get up.

"You are trying my patience, girl," He growled.

"Good."

"You won't think so, soon enough."

"I'm sure I will, Captain Glitter."

"Such a childish insult; but I'd be lying if I expected anything better from you."

"Wow, harsh."

"Get _up._

"

"No."

Jareth reached down and snatched up Sarah's wrist, tugging her forcefully to her feet. She refused to give him an inch, though, and let her legs crumble from beneath her, where she gave him as much of her dead weight as possible. He snarled in frustration and threw her back onto the ground.

"I tried to be fair, Sarah—" he started, but was interrupted by Sarah's bitter laugh.

"You tricked a _six year old," _She finally opened her eyes and rolled over to face him, she was covered in dirt and her bare arms had scratches on them from the gravel, "I would _hardly _call that fair."

"I can be cruel, Sarah."

"I know. But don't forget to add sore loser to your list while you're at it."

He ignored her and pulled out his pocket watch, to decide how much time he would give her this time, especially with her less than welcoming attitude.

Sarah took this moment of quiet to take in her surroundings. It looked as though they were on the same barren hill that led towards the Labyrinth as last time. She recognized the tree that she'd been sleeping on, except now it was more dead and twisted as ever. She followed the path she had walked on five years ago and saw the labyrinth in the distance. It looked the same as last time, but she was sure that it would be very different.

She was shaken from her thoughts at the click of Jareth's watched as he replaced it in his coat. He moved to stand over her once more, intimidatingly tall from the angle she was sitting at. He held out his hand silently, this time, and she gulped before

reluctantly taking it. She was pulled easily to her feet and she waited to hear the damage.

"You have ten hours in which to complete the labyrinth, or your precious Toby will belong to me forever," He cocked his head to the side, his face a mask of seriousness, "Do you understand?"

"_Ten hours?!_" Sarah asked incredulously, "You horrible cheat! That's not _fair."_

"Oh Sarah, do you really want to start with all that again? If you'd like I'll make it _really _unfair for you. It'll give you something real to complain about."

She kicked some gravel at him spitefully with her bare foot, and grit her teeth in pain. Well that was stupid. What on earth compelled her to kick _gravel _with her _bare foot._ It's called skin, Sarah, you kinda need it to live.

Jareth grinned wickedly at her and she had to refrain from slapping it right off his face. She turned without another word and trudged down the path towards the labyrinth.

Sarah had barely made several steps before she was engulfed by an unseen hole from below. The Goblin King watched her fall mercilessly and then turned and walked in the opposite direction, soon fading into the distance.

Sarah hit the ground hard and her curses could be heard for miles. She found that she had temporarily lost the feeling of her backside due to it going on strike at its unfair treatment. She rubbed it, hoping to gain back some sense of friendship, but her bottom would have none of it!

She would have taken a look around, but considering that there was no light whatsoever, she thought it would be rather pointless. She wondered momentarily if she was in an oubliette again. Maybe she should pull out a mattress and set up a set of drawers; because honestly, if she was going to keep landing in these bloody things she might as well just move in.

"'Ey, you!" came a rough, heavily british voice from…her left? Well, she assumed it was her left. Sarah felt around, but there was a wall right next to her…so how was the voice coming from the left?

"Oi wrong side, mate!" The voice spoke from behind her this time. She looked over her shoulder and sighed in frustration when she reached out and felt that there was a wall behind her as well.

"What the hell is this place?!" she demanded.

"A boxy sort of box, wouldn't you say, old chap?!" came the new voice of an elderly man to her right.

"Nah, I'd call it a cube." Came the rough voice from the start.

"A cube _is _a box, dear boy!"

"No it's not."

"I do believe it is!"

"No."


	5. Chapter 5

Sarah sighed and felt in front of her, hoping against hope that there wouldn't be a wall there. She was slowly regaining feeling in her backside, so this gave her hope that maybe whatever it was upstairs didn't hate her. She cheered victoriously to herself when she felt the evidence of a door frame.

"Freeeeeeeeeeeedom!" she crowed, crawling through the doorway. She wasn't sure how high it was and didn't want to risk smacking her head on the ceiling because she couldn't see it.

"Oi, where'd she go?" echoed one of the voices from behind her.

"That way!" The pompous old man replied.

"What way?"

"_That _way! You _know _what way!"

Eventually the voices faded and for that Sarah was thankful; she didn't think she could stand another moment listening to their mind numbing chatter. As soon as that thought had come into her mind, she smacked head long into a dead end and cursed viciously, rubbing at her forehead. Oh, that was so going to bruise. Stupid karma.

She turned so she could rest against the wall and gain some sort of idea of where she was and smacked right into another wall. She gritted her teeth, her irritation growing steadily.

"What in the _hell _kind of box is this anyway?!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls and splitting into several different voices, all repeating her but in a mocking Jareth-esque sort of tone.

She grumbled miserably and sat there for a while, too scared to move in case she ran into another wall. She wasn't sure how much more she could take, and she wanted to know if Toby was alright, and if there were any Chinese restaurants in the Goblin City.

Her stomach growled in reply.

"I know, Sir Grumble, we'll get you something soon!"

Jareth had always doubted the mindset of Sarah…but as he watched her through one of his crystal balls which slid rhythmically up and down his arm, he had to wonder if she hadn't completely lost it. She appeared to be talking…to her stomach.

"What is the girl doing, siiiiiire?" came the hissing voice of one of his more serpentine looking goblins, who hovered around his throne, kissing some ass.

"She appears to be conversing with her digestive system."

He was in the throne room of his castle, over looking the large congregation of goblins which were surrounding a very frightened Toby, who sat in the middle of the room wide eyed. He hadn't said a thing since he arrived and Jareth wondered if he was in shock. You'd think he'd be used to the alternate universes by now, geez.

The King tapped his riding crop on the edge of his throne and he looked at the crystal in mild boredom. Sarah had stopped trying to move five minutes ago and he was quickly losing interest. He reached behind him where he kept a salad bowl and took a peach in hand. He smirked and threw it at the crystal ball, where it was immediately sucked inside.

Sarah could hear the ominous sound of something flying towards her. She didn't know how that was possible though, because she was in the most infuriatingly nonsensical cube she'd ever seen. Well, she hadn't actually _seen _it, since it was still annoyingly dark.

During her thought process, something small, round and solid connected with the back of her head, which had been leaning against what she thought had been a wall. So as well as being hit in the head by a solid object of some sort, she had lost her wall which she had been balancing on, and promptly fell backwards. To add insult to injury she landed on the thing that had hit her and it made a loud "SQUELSH" noise, and also, coincidently, happened to be a name of one of Jareth's Goblins.

Sitting next to Jareth and the creepy serpent goblin, the other goblin known as "SQUELSH" (quotation marks included), looked up at what he thought had been the call of his name.

"'Ey your 'ighness, I think I 'as just been called I 'as," he said proudly, or as proud as a goblin who had a permanently squished in face could be. Then again, he _was _the one and only goblin whose face was so squished that it partly came out the other side of his head with a "SQUELSH" noise. So maybe being different _was_ something he could be proud of!

Jareth shifted in his throne so he could better smack "SQUELSH" over the head with his riding crop. The poor little goblin fell to the ground and writhed there, because he had fallen on what little part of his face stuck out at the back of his head. Falling onto his back was a painful thing.


End file.
